Mark Cantrell
@man0words.bsky.social
A UK writer and journalist. Writes about social housing (day job). Author of SFF novels Citizen Zero and Silas Morlock, published by Inspired Quill.
Website: https://tykewriter.wordpress.com
Substack Newsletter: https://markcantrellauthor.substack.com
Website: https://tykewriter.wordpress.com
Substack Newsletter: https://markcantrellauthor.substack.com
Oh dear, L&Q gains itself some recognition on the world stage -- only not in a good way...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
#ukhousing
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
#ukhousing
UN experts raise concerns over homes rented out by English social landlord
Exclusive: Letter says L&Q appears to have systematically failed in its duty to provide adequate standard of living
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Oh dear, L&Q gains itself some recognition on the world stage -- only not in a good way...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
#ukhousing
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
#ukhousing
Random thought, AI is not a technology designed or intended to sustain human life. It's purpose -- the dream of its oligrach creators -- is to liberate capital from the messy burden of reliance on the human animal for its labour needs.
November 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Random thought, AI is not a technology designed or intended to sustain human life. It's purpose -- the dream of its oligrach creators -- is to liberate capital from the messy burden of reliance on the human animal for its labour needs.
Reposted by Mark Cantrell
It's Getting Harder And Harder To Preserve Our Mental Sovereignty
Our rulers see AI as an opportunity to recapture the degree of social control that was shaken by the arrival of widespread internet access.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-gettin...
Our rulers see AI as an opportunity to recapture the degree of social control that was shaken by the arrival of widespread internet access.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-gettin...
It's Getting Harder And Harder To Preserve Our Mental Sovereignty
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
www.caitlinjohnst.one
November 29, 2025 at 1:39 PM
It's Getting Harder And Harder To Preserve Our Mental Sovereignty
Our rulers see AI as an opportunity to recapture the degree of social control that was shaken by the arrival of widespread internet access.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-gettin...
Our rulers see AI as an opportunity to recapture the degree of social control that was shaken by the arrival of widespread internet access.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-gettin...
Reposted by Mark Cantrell
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Black Friday reminder: You can support independent bookstores and get great deals without lining the pockets of billionaires 😌
November 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
Something from the archives this week. Experts at Cambridge University warned that AI risks denying people of colour a presence in our imagined world of tomorrow...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/the-colour...
#AI #technology #culture #diversity #representation
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/the-colour...
#AI #technology #culture #diversity #representation
November 23, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Something from the archives this week. Experts at Cambridge University warned that AI risks denying people of colour a presence in our imagined world of tomorrow...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/the-colour...
#AI #technology #culture #diversity #representation
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/the-colour...
#AI #technology #culture #diversity #representation
Reposted by Mark Cantrell
Bradford's Wool Exchange, December 1964. Opened 1867, ceased trading later in the 1960s. Now it's Waterstones Bradford.
November 22, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Bradford's Wool Exchange, December 1964. Opened 1867, ceased trading later in the 1960s. Now it's Waterstones Bradford.
Once AI has done its work, where will you hide?
Citizen Zero, a hard-hitting #scifi thriller from @inspiredquill.bsky.social...
Buy it here: www.inspired-quill.com/product/citi...
#booksky #fiction #cyberpunk #novels #AI #technologu
Citizen Zero, a hard-hitting #scifi thriller from @inspiredquill.bsky.social...
Buy it here: www.inspired-quill.com/product/citi...
#booksky #fiction #cyberpunk #novels #AI #technologu
November 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Once AI has done its work, where will you hide?
Citizen Zero, a hard-hitting #scifi thriller from @inspiredquill.bsky.social...
Buy it here: www.inspired-quill.com/product/citi...
#booksky #fiction #cyberpunk #novels #AI #technologu
Citizen Zero, a hard-hitting #scifi thriller from @inspiredquill.bsky.social...
Buy it here: www.inspired-quill.com/product/citi...
#booksky #fiction #cyberpunk #novels #AI #technologu
Just discovered I forgot to switch the freezer back on after I defrosted it yesterday. Oops...
November 20, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Just discovered I forgot to switch the freezer back on after I defrosted it yesterday. Oops...
Random thought of the day: Obviously, the novel I am currently writing will be no good, because I refuse to let chatGPT or its ilk anywhere near it.
Disgraceful, I know. I should probably be arrested and sent to some re-education camp to teach me the errors of my dissent.
Disgraceful, I know. I should probably be arrested and sent to some re-education camp to teach me the errors of my dissent.
November 19, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Random thought of the day: Obviously, the novel I am currently writing will be no good, because I refuse to let chatGPT or its ilk anywhere near it.
Disgraceful, I know. I should probably be arrested and sent to some re-education camp to teach me the errors of my dissent.
Disgraceful, I know. I should probably be arrested and sent to some re-education camp to teach me the errors of my dissent.
A little fictional interlude for the evening...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/sinners-in...
#fiction #specfiction #scifi #fantasy
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/sinners-in...
#fiction #specfiction #scifi #fantasy
Sinners in Streaming Video
Why burn books when you can incinerate the minds that make them?
markcantrellauthor.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:52 PM
A little fictional interlude for the evening...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/sinners-in...
#fiction #specfiction #scifi #fantasy
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/sinners-in...
#fiction #specfiction #scifi #fantasy
I imagine these coming internal climate refugees will be treated much akin to the way that external refugees are being treated, with contempt and a high degree of othering to justify a draconian response...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Flooded and forgotten: the UK’s waters are rising and we’re being kept in the dark | John Harris
Rescue operations in Wales, submerged railway lines in Cornwall – these events are ever more common. So why have we utterly failed to prepare, asks Guardian columnist John Harris
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I imagine these coming internal climate refugees will be treated much akin to the way that external refugees are being treated, with contempt and a high degree of othering to justify a draconian response...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Mark Cantrell
Bradford University to benefit from JB Priestley royalties. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
University of Bradford to benefit from JB Priestley royalties
The author of An Inspector Calls and other plays and novels was born in Manningham in Bradford.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Bradford University to benefit from JB Priestley royalties. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Call me an old cynic, but maybe we could also do with some cast iron guarantees from social landlords that they'll build way more social homes, and a tad less 'affordable'/shared ownership/whatever...
housingdigital.co.uk/crisis-deman...
#ukhousing
housingdigital.co.uk/crisis-deman...
#ukhousing
Crisis demands “cast iron guarantees” on social housing
Call comes as landmark study shows nearly 300,000 families and individuals in England now experiencing the worst forms of homelessness
housingdigital.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Call me an old cynic, but maybe we could also do with some cast iron guarantees from social landlords that they'll build way more social homes, and a tad less 'affordable'/shared ownership/whatever...
housingdigital.co.uk/crisis-deman...
#ukhousing
housingdigital.co.uk/crisis-deman...
#ukhousing
Reposted by Mark Cantrell
I have spoken to no fewer than three writing friends who have had troubles feeling seen lately. It's a struggle I've felt I've had since starting out self-publishing and always just hard trying to feel like your stories matter. So if you have time to read someone's fics, please let them know you did
November 9, 2025 at 12:53 PM
I have spoken to no fewer than three writing friends who have had troubles feeling seen lately. It's a struggle I've felt I've had since starting out self-publishing and always just hard trying to feel like your stories matter. So if you have time to read someone's fics, please let them know you did
What's in your loft? Probably nothing quite so kitschy or fascinating as what a Leeds museum found when trawling its storage space. Read the latest post on my author newsletter...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/guarding-t...
#history #heritage #museums #writing
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/guarding-t...
#history #heritage #museums #writing
Guarding the home forge with kittens in cranes
A Leeds museum has unearthed some quaint but adorable artifacts in its archives, revelling in the city's industrial and commercial past
markcantrellauthor.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:29 AM
What's in your loft? Probably nothing quite so kitschy or fascinating as what a Leeds museum found when trawling its storage space. Read the latest post on my author newsletter...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/guarding-t...
#history #heritage #museums #writing
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/guarding-t...
#history #heritage #museums #writing
And that's a short story sent out into the wilds. Now we wait and see if it finds its place in the world, or it crawls back bleeding and broken...
#writerslife
#writerslife
November 8, 2025 at 2:05 PM
And that's a short story sent out into the wilds. Now we wait and see if it finds its place in the world, or it crawls back bleeding and broken...
#writerslife
#writerslife
Some good news out of the US, for once. Congratultions to Zohran Mamdani. He’d have got my vote if I was a New Yorker. I’m sure he realises he has high hopes to fulfil, though, not just in the Big Apple. The world is watching, with fingers crossed.
November 5, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Some good news out of the US, for once. Congratultions to Zohran Mamdani. He’d have got my vote if I was a New Yorker. I’m sure he realises he has high hopes to fulfil, though, not just in the Big Apple. The world is watching, with fingers crossed.
One from the day job...
Former housing minister Eddie Hughes takes to the podium as a headline speaker at next year’s Housing Innovation Show, where he’s bound to have plenty to say...
housingdigital.co.uk/ministering-...
#ukhousing
Former housing minister Eddie Hughes takes to the podium as a headline speaker at next year’s Housing Innovation Show, where he’s bound to have plenty to say...
housingdigital.co.uk/ministering-...
#ukhousing
Ministering to housing need
Former housing minister Eddie Hughes takes to the podium as a headline speaker at next year's Housing Innovation Show
housingdigital.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 4:23 PM
One from the day job...
Former housing minister Eddie Hughes takes to the podium as a headline speaker at next year’s Housing Innovation Show, where he’s bound to have plenty to say...
housingdigital.co.uk/ministering-...
#ukhousing
Former housing minister Eddie Hughes takes to the podium as a headline speaker at next year’s Housing Innovation Show, where he’s bound to have plenty to say...
housingdigital.co.uk/ministering-...
#ukhousing
A little creative essaying from the deep archives in this latest post on my author newsletter...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/hunters-of...
#creative #writing #authors
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/hunters-of...
#creative #writing #authors
Hunters of the untamed idea
Something from the deep archives, with an unashamedly idealistic venture into the meta-realms of creative writing
markcantrellauthor.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A little creative essaying from the deep archives in this latest post on my author newsletter...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/hunters-of...
#creative #writing #authors
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/hunters-of...
#creative #writing #authors
I'm sure someone is thinking 'who needs these 3.3m workers when we have the miracle of AI?' On another note, maybe this endless gradgrind focus on more more more productivity is a factor in making people ill? Just a thought...
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/n...
UK ‘to lose 600,000 workers to illness without better health support at work’
Exclusive: Royal Society of Public Health says ‘fundamental shift’ needed in how firms help those with health conditions
www.theguardian.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I'm sure someone is thinking 'who needs these 3.3m workers when we have the miracle of AI?' On another note, maybe this endless gradgrind focus on more more more productivity is a factor in making people ill? Just a thought...
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/n...
On a night like this, what's a Goth femme fatale got to say, but Happy Halloween... 🎃
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/death-and-...
#booksky #fiction #Halloween
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/death-and-...
#booksky #fiction #Halloween
Death and Mercy: The Reaper's Moll
We might take it for just another one of Mercy's Gothic affectations, but is our flamboyant femme fatale simply trying to tell us something?
markcantrellauthor.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:21 PM
On a night like this, what's a Goth femme fatale got to say, but Happy Halloween... 🎃
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/death-and-...
#booksky #fiction #Halloween
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/death-and-...
#booksky #fiction #Halloween
There's no better place to spend Halloween than at the Bone Diva, so permit the Reaper's Moll to entertain you, darkly...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/dance-maca...
#booksky #fiction #novels #Halloween
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/dance-maca...
#booksky #fiction #novels #Halloween
Dance Macabre in the House of the Reaper's Moll
In the unlikeliest of places we find a sanctuary from the grinding realities of post-war England, so welcome to The Bone Diva; pull up a pew and choose your poison
markcantrellauthor.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:08 PM
There's no better place to spend Halloween than at the Bone Diva, so permit the Reaper's Moll to entertain you, darkly...
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/dance-maca...
#booksky #fiction #novels #Halloween
markcantrellauthor.substack.com/p/dance-maca...
#booksky #fiction #novels #Halloween
Reposted by Mark Cantrell
If you're new to @bsky.app and you're wondering where all the sci-fi and fantasy folks are, this starter pack contains a lot of great people to follow: go.bsky.app/Pmq3Moa
October 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
If you're new to @bsky.app and you're wondering where all the sci-fi and fantasy folks are, this starter pack contains a lot of great people to follow: go.bsky.app/Pmq3Moa